Kent Baker

BIO

Kent Baker (ASCAP), a graduate of George Mason University, recently retired from The United States Air Force Band, DC where he was a hornist, arranger, composer and Assistant Drum Major for 23 years. Kent's works have been featured on NBC's The Today Show 15 times, Fox & Friends, The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Presidential Inaugurals, Flash Mobs, The USAF Band 75th Anniversary Concert, Kennedy Center Honors, and recently performed by the Dallas Winds, The St. Louis Brass Band, Barclay Brass, and many college and university ensembles. Kent's works have won numerous awards, including recent winners Scenes from an American Childhood, winner of the District New Music Composition Competition (2020), The Eternity Gate, The Tannhauser Gate, and Land of the Free, Home of the Brave, winners of the 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2020 Dallas Winds Fanfare Competition, and many more. His works have been included on The USAF Band CDs Home of the Brave and Breaking Barriers. Kent is a 2020 Composer-in-Residence with the Westben Composer/Performer Residency in Campbellford, Ontario, Canada, as well as a finalist in the 2021 North State Orchestra Composition Competition with his work, Archetypes. Recent consortiums include the Carolina Chamber Consortium and the Fairfax County Digital Consortium.

WHAT I MAKE

Music

INSPIRED BY

Winter Guard, Drum Corps, dance, painting (the Rafealites and impressionists), literature (classics such as The Iliad), Rachmaninoff, Strauss, and Mahler, so late Romantic orchestral music.

EXPLORING

After retirement, I make a living writing high end marching band shows, but my professional compositions have fallen by the wayside. I'm looking for a way to funnel my creativity away from necessity and back into art.